Demon Wolf

“Foxes planned this ahead of time. Your sister either betrayed the tribe or they conned her. They’ll kill her, regardless. You don’t need Blood Saturating realm slaves; you need traitors even less, so if she willingly helped them they would kill her as soon as she served her purpose.” Fiona could picture it.

Mona talking down to the Fox tribe’s representative and her escorts; then, the group pounces on her and kills her overconfident ass. Fiona vividly imagined the scene, and it was nearly identical if Foxes deceived her into staging a rebellion.

“Our only hope is if we make it back before they kill her and enslave our people,” she blurted, clawing at a phantom itch in her scalp.

“Would they get us first, or clean up Hare’s Burrow?” Ronit muttered.

If it were her, she would focus on breaking the detached force, especially one so large. She had committed more than half Hare Tribe’s military might on looting the Treasure Rift, leaving behind elders to hold the fort.

Her followers were exhausted from a tough fight, which left them bloodied. Three hundred died, twice as many were wounded and out of commission. Their fortifications had become a slick but traversable slope. It was the perfect opportunity to take five thousand fresh warriors and storm them.

“They will attack in force, from the east, using the sun to blind us.” Ronit countered the assassin theory, but Fiona shook her head.

“It’s the Foxes we’re talking about. They avoid uncertain frontal battles, unless they are the ones besieged. They timed this so I’m away. And they wouldn’t risk open confrontation with you. It’s too dangerous and their losses wouldn’t be much lower than ours.”

“Then what?” Ronit struggled not to shout, sick of Fiona correcting her; so, she changed the topic, “Why’s your face swollen? Did a Monster Beast get you?”

She noted the smeared palm-print and knew it was no Monster Beast wound. But she did not believe anyone here could slap Fiona.

“It’s that piece of ass Kiki brought. He—” she wanted to say Wolf sucker-punched her, but too many girls witnessed the incident. “… hit me good. I never saw it coming. Liam guessed he’s a body refiner. Said he jumped down the wall without using Qi.”

“Liam’s head is full of shit,” Ronit replied, dismissing the preposterous notion. “He didn’t see him, or the boy knows how to conceal himself like a coward.”

“Ronny, focus. Those assassins will attack us in half an hour. At most.”

“What the hells can we do about assassins? Be ready? Do we sit back to back and wait for them to hit us?” Ronit tried real, real hard not to raise her voice, but she was ill-prepared for plots of this sort.

Fiona touched her tender cheek. “We could try talking to him. He’s not weak, if he can knock me out so easily.”

While they discussed the imminent attack, Wolf lowered himself into the cask of cool water.

If only I could cast Clean. Gods know how many times he cursed being unable to use magic in this savage world. Back home, if he had gotten this dirty, he would never consider entering a tub.Bathing was for relaxing and playing; Clean was for hygiene.

Water and soap will take forever to wash all this blood. I’ll smell it for days; weeks when I awaken my senses.

Wolf imagined bloody grime had soaked every crease and fold of his skin. He redoubled the zeal with which he scrubbed his fingernails while ignoring his legs. His feet had churned blood into pudding for a quarter of an hour. Just thinking about the state they were in gave him the chills.

“Ahem, Wolf,” a familiar voice interrupted his effort, and Wolf understood how that coal mine administrator he once abused felt.

“May we come in?” Kira asked in plural, from which Wolf drew certain conclusions.

“Come in.”

The tent flap opened and Kira entered, followed by her mother and matriarch Ronit. The young woman swallowed. She turned her blushing head away from the bathing beauty, but kept stealing tender glances at his supple tanned shoulders and slender neck.

Ronit also gawked. She looked at Fiona, her gaze burning a hole in her warleader’s face, seeming to say, ‘This is your body refiner? He’s just a piece of ass.’

‘Oh shut up, Ronny,’ Fiona rolled her eyes at Ronit and focused on Wolf.

“I was too emotional back there. I apologize.” Fiona surprised Wolf. He expected she came looking for trouble, or reparation for her bruised face and ego.

The words hung in the air, followed by a moment of silence. Wolf suddenly realized they were waiting for him to accept Fiona’s apology.

“Um, apology accepted,” he said and stopped his frantic scrubbing as familiar words echoed in his mind. Don’t start formal sentences with ‘um’ or ‘aa’. You appear stupid. Frown and take an extra moment to collect your thoughts without opening your mouth. It adds to the gravity of the situation.

Wolf was about to smile, recalling Mandy’s blunt and direct lessons on manners and how to communicate with others properly. Then he remembered the lesson about maintaining an impassive face around strangers and continued working on his nails.

He swallowed his smile and some spit. “You didn’t come here to apologize. What’s going on?”

“That beast-wave wasn’t a natural event. Someone orchestrated it somehow. I don’t know how.” Fiona said it straight. “But I am certain that beast-wave wasn’t their entire plan. They will attack us, and they will attack soon. They might be sneaking up on us as we speak, using the cover of the night and masses of corpses to mask their presence.”

“And?” he asked without lifting his gaze from his fingers.

“Stop beautifying yourself, now’s not the time! Fiona says the assassins might have infiltrated our camp and they are as strong as we are. You could be their target—” Fiona put her hand on Ronit, stopping her growls.

‘He’s a male. They have to be pretty,’ she said with her eyes before focusing on Wolf.

“I am aware you fancy my daughter. I can let you marry into our tribe. For a wanderer, that’s the best possible outcome. You will find peace—. Why are you snickering?”

“I’m sorry. I’m already married, and Kira reminds me of my kid.” Wolf stifled a laugh, not believing how they wanted to tempt him into helping them. If anything, Ronit’s candid approach was better. If a common enemy had appeared, he would naturally fight back. And what the fuck was she talking about beautifying? I want to get this damn blood off me!

Kira’s eyes went wide with shock. First she found out someone orchestrated the beast-tide, then her mother claimed they were in imminent danger of an attack, and finally, Wolf was married. How did she feel about snatching another warrior’s man?

It’s more like borrowing… Kira bit her lip; that thought enough to reveal her true feelings. She nervously cracked her knuckles, and after stealing one final furtive glance of Wolf’s surreal physique, turned her back to him.

***

The pungent scent of blood hung heavy in the night. The flickering torches and gleaming brightstones shone into the sky. Piles of corpses prevented most of their light from reaching the ground, turning the quiet predawn into a land of dancing shadows.

The traitorous clouds parted at the last possible moment. Mia glanced at the starry sky above. Doesn’t matter. They are tired from fighting, and they should be tending to the wounded or treating their own scrapes.

She looked behind and saw the grim faces staring back in the faint starlight. She nodded, then started crawling up the ramp of corpses. The plan is perfect. Us five will quietly eliminate the drowsy sentries; the rest will follow. Then, we will slowly scour the camp, quietly eliminating everyone we meet, until we run into Ronit and Fiona.

I thought Matriarch was overly cautious when she sent us five here to handle Ronit, but I guess she guarded against Fiona’s return. If we split, two can handle Fiona while three fight Ronit. That way we’ll kill them even if they burn their blood-Qi. If we’re lucky and they aren’t close, us five can take out a hare with no one being the wiser.

Matriarch’s scheme was really intricate this time. I wonder how she planted a spy so deep into the Hare Tribe? She won’t tell us even after this is over. Mia inched across the furry carcasses without a change in her expression. All warriors crawled their way to the top by stepping on corpses. Otherwise, they became a corpse others stepped on.

She reached the breastworks. At a glance, she found three nearby guards, Hare Tribe’s standard guard group. However, these women were not dressing wounds, slumped on the ground, as she expected. They were fresh and vigilant.

They placed the reserves on guard duty. They are paranoid. She motioned behind with her hand. Plan four. Fan out, our girls replace the hare lookouts.

Then Mia took out three throwing daggers. She regulated her breathing, waiting for everyone to get into position.

Random Roll - Foxes could’ve brought three to six elders, die said five.